A Pointless Masquerade
by Sunechirei
Summary: Her first school dance, and Xion felt content just standing by the edge, watching them all. She felt pretty, being dolled up, and that's all that mattered to her. Then a boy asked her to dance, hidden behind a mask. A pointless mask. A pointless masquerade.


**Just something I wrote for a prompt on my RP account for Xion. I had fun with it, so I decided to revise and post it on here. Hope you enjoy!**

**Please review! I'm always looking for pointers on anything! What I did well, what I did poorly, what you liked and didn't like, etc!**

**~Sunechirei**

**(WTF O.o IT deleted my first paragraph! Oh well, it's back now)**

* * *

Xion felt gorgeous. It didn't happen often, but for some reason she felt amazing and beautiful. A knee length, black and dark purple, sleeveless dress hung from her shoulders, her black hair was pinned back from her eyes with a butterfly clip, and a pair of black heels made her feel just a little bit taller. Of course, the sparkling purple mask covering the top half of her face made everything that much better. Even though she felt pretty, no one would know who she was. The beauty was to herself.

So, she stood at the side of the party, leaning against the wall as she watched the rest of the people dance, drink punch, and talk to each other like good friends do. She didn't feel at all lonely, though. She'd rather sit at the edge and watch people than actually spend time out there with them. With the low lights, the calm, sweet music gently playing in the background, she found it relaxing.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes to relish in the bliss.

"Having fun?"

A low voice appeared next to her and she jumped, moving away from the wall. Standing there was a young man, his long silver hair pulled back in a pony tail, black suit making him look taller than he probably was, and his mask was a dark blue. Xion flushed and looked down at her feet, hands wringing in front of her.

"Um… I am," she said shyly. " Thank you for asking." She expected him to leave, but instead he chuckled and leaned against the wall, staring down at her. Or, she assumed he was staring at her. His dark blue make shadowed his eyes just enough she couldn't see what they were looking at.

"It's no problem," he said. "Just wondering what you're up to. Saw you here all alone and I figured you must be kinda lonely." His voice seemed to hitch once or twice in the sentence, which caught Xion's attention. Boys, especially when talking to her, never had trouble keeping their tone straight.

She giggled and looked up at him again. Even through the dark she could see his face. His head was turned away, looking at the ceiling, and even though the darkness she could see the forming of a light blush across his cheeks. "Are you embarrassed?"

A smile crept onto his lips, and a low chuckled escaped them. "I guess," he said, looking down at her again. This time she caught a minor glimpse of his eyes. Blue. Not the color of the mask, but more like her own eyes. "I'm not very… I'm not very good with women. Or girls. Or any females, really." She saw his hand shift, moving from across his chest over to her face, and she gulped when his fingers caressed her cheek.. "Especially not ones who are… really… cute."

The moment the sentence ended her face exploded with heat and she looked down, suddenly finding her shoes a little too interesting. "Y-y-y-y-you m-m-must be mistaking m-m-me for someone else. I-I'm not... I'm not cute." She took a step away from him. "You... you can... you should go find the girl you think you're talking to."

Even though she was trying to back away, the stranger was having none of it and when her hands moved up to a passive position in front of her chest, he reached forward and snatched one from the air, stopping her in her tracks.

"Okay look," he said, voice shaking. "Look, it... it took me... It took a lot of guts for me to come over and talk to you. Like I said, I'm not good with girls. I'm so scared right now I feel like my joints are going to disconnect. Not a fun feeling." She could feel him shaking still, and she relaxed. When she relaxed, so did he. "So... just one dance?"

His hand felt warm. Calloused, but warm, and Xion had to smile. He was cute, and he seemed nice. Besides, Kairi had dragged her there to maybe meet someone. Nothing better than a school masquerade to meet someone. Kairi said she needed to get out more, and maybe try and meet a boy. This stranger was a boy. A tall, handsome, mysterious boy who was more familiar to her than she thought he would be.

"Alright," she said, "but can I know your name first?" She wanted to know who he was.

"Hm… no." It didn't take long at all for him to answer, and the change in him after she said "okay" was immediate. His smile widened, hand gripped hers righter, his body stopped shaking, and he pulled her neatly onto the dance floor. Well, he was neat. She nearly tripped due to the sudden change in direction, and the heels she wasn't used to wear.

"W-wait! But I need to know," she said, trying to keep her balance.

"I think the whole point of a masquerade," the boy said, pulling her around so she pressed up against his body, "is you don't know who your dance partner is."

Xion was lost for words when his arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her steady. Not good with girls... Xion wanted to believe it, but he just proved her otherwise. The ease in which he moved her made it seem like he'd done this before. Then again, he was still blushing, looking down at her, swaying to the music echoing in the chambers of air above them. His eyes, his blue-green eyes, were locked to hers, and through the shadow she saw a gentle look, one that made her blush.

No matter what she did she couldn't tear her gaze away, and they moved to the beat of the music with ease. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. The pattern almost made her dizzy, but it was a different dizziness. She found herself smiling, the hand in his twisting with his fingers, her other hand placed gently on his much too high shoulder clenched a little. His body pressed slightly against her own, arm keeping her locked there. Not that she minded.

Things were going well. Xion never once imagined herself dancing at one of these, much less with someone like this boy.

But the song had to end. Xion felt her heart skip a beat when she recognized the final run of the song, and she sighed.

"Hey," the boy whispered, his voice barely loud enough to make it over the music.

"Hm?"

Xion didn't realize they were almost off the dance floor, back where they started, until he let go of her hand and moved his arm so it was wrapped around her waist, along with the other one. "This masquerade thing... it really... well, there isn't a point for it to me."

"What do you mean?"

"I… I kinda… I already know who you are," he said. Xion was surprised at the crack in his voice more than she was surprised at the words he actually said. Embarrassment wasn't something she was expecting back in his demeanor. It took a second for the reaction to flip though, and when the words finally clicked in her mind, her hands went to her mouth, face once again burning.

"You know who I am?" She only agreed to dance with him because she thought he was a complete stranger.

"Xion," he muttered. A hand came up and brushed some of her hair away from her face. His fingers lingered on her cheek. "You're Xion. You… you don't know who I am. Or, you might, but we've never spoken. I've kinda… I've kinda just watched you from the side. I've always wanted to go talk to you but like I said. I'm not good with girls."

"What's your name," Xion asked, reaching her hand up to slip off his mask. The hand on her cheek moved before she could reach it though, and he snatched her wrist. This didn't deter her at all, though, and instead she grabbed it with the other hand and removed it, showing his full face to her.

She recognized him. Somewhat. Now that she could see his full face, she knew she'd seen him around school before. He was very attractive, even in daylight, even not in a suit. Most of the girls in the hallways would point at him. Xion always found him intimidating.

"Riku," he finally said, laughing. "I'm Riku." She'd heard the name before, but somehow never managed to put the name and the face together. Part of her was embarrassed. The other part intrigued. Both the name and the face were popular.

Very, _very_ popular.

"You're one of the most sought after boys in school," she whispered to him, holding the mask down to her chest. "Everyone knows who you are, and you... and you've always wanted to talk to me?" She was just the girl. Just a girl. No one special.

A smile crossed his face, and before she knew what was happening he'd swooped down and pressed his lips to hers. She froze, eyes widening, startled at the contact. She'd never been kissed before.

He lingered there for a few seconds. Maybe more, maybe less. Time was lost for Xion, especially when her eyes closed and she relaxed. He pulled away briefly and her eyes opened, staring up into his. The gentle look returned, as did his smile, before he kissed her again, a little harder this time. His hand moved to the back of her head to hold her in place. Not that she would want to me.

"It's always been you," he whispered. "Ever since you came to our school in your freshmen year. I've always seen you around. You were always so quiet, so peaceful, so gentle. You were also so... p-p-pretty, and I'd heard so many things – good things – about you. Before I knew it, I was falling for you. Falling for a girl I'd never talked to." He pressed his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. "Is that okay?"

Xion could barely hear his words. This was all too good to be true.

"Y-yeah," she muttered back to him.

He kissed her again. Her head was spinning, Three kisses. No, four. Five.

"Good," he said to her, pulling her in for yet another kiss, "because I wasn't going to take no for an answer."


End file.
